BAG: Penguins Are Godly
by vandals.and.scandals
Summary: BAG: Penguins Are Godly. They probably just spelled penguins wrong. Follow Felix and his friends as they, corny as this sounds, face a challenge almost worse than Apophis: 8th grade. Drama and penguins ensue.
1. Penguins Are Godly

**Slight AU. Ages:**

**Felix: 12 (turning 13 soon)/8****th**** grade  
Alyssa: 13/8****th**** grade  
Julian: 13/8****th**** grade  
Sean: 12 (turning 13 a little later)/8****th**** grade**

**Sadie: 15/9****th**** grade  
Walt: 16/10****th**** grade  
Cleo: 14/9****th**** grade  
Jaz: 16/10****th**** grade (she'll appear as of next chapter)**

BAG. Penguins Are Godly. They probably just misspelled penguins. I had on a penguin shirt that day; it was purple, with a penguin on it, and the penguin had a thought bubble that said I heart ice cubes. Of course, the heart was like a red heart you'd see painted in girly letters and the ice cubes were also drawn. I had put on black jeans, skinny jeans, as Alyssa had pointed out. And, of course, my bright blue Converse. I had gotten clothes markers and drawn penguins on the outsides. Carter didn't think I looked like much of a magician when I wore normal clothes, but he isn't really a fashion god himself, and he doesn't appreciate penguins, so there.

So back to BAG. Sadie, Walt and Cleo had gone a different way; we didn't want to seem weird. I mean, roughly fourteen kids coming from the same place all knowing each other was a little like that weird movie _Yours, Mine and Ours_ and none of us wanted that. So we decided to go with either our age groups or groups of preferable friends. Alyssa and I, of course, had immediately paired up (Alyssa's, like, my best friend), and we decided to let Julian and Sean tag along.

I think Julian has a crush Alyssa.

When we got there, we saw Salt (what we called Sadie and Walt together, though I preferred her to be with Anubis more. Anubis is cold and so, therefore he likes penguins) plus their third wheel Cleo dissolve to go to their separate classes. Or wait, were we supposed to go to homeroom first? I don't know. I doodled penguins all over my schedule instead of memorizing it.

Alyssa thankfully knew this and led our group towards a sign that said '8th grade'. Smart move, Alyssa.

"You know, I wonder what you guys would do without me," she grumbled. Julian laughed and started talking to her about penguins-know-what, and Sean started talking to some other eighth graders standing around, looking about as bored as I had felt the moment we started walking to school. So what to do? Easy!

I pulled out a miniature penguin _shabti_, Toby's, if I'm correct. Toby is one of my penguins. I animated Toby with a quick spell and let him run up and down my arm, creating miniature ice slides for him from my shoulder to my elbow, where it did a roller coaster loop and continued down to the palm of my hand.

It was really warm, so I kept on having to inconspicuously steal water from someone's water bottle (it was just sitting right there, in the backpack, I had a good shot!) to rebuild it. Unfortunately that tactic wasn't very successful, and when I accidentally oversaw a tiny hole in the slide, and Toby's _shabti_ summersaulted off my arm and cracked his head on the asphalt. Oops.

"Felix!" I heard Alyssa hiss behind me. My concentration immediately broke and a very unpleasant feeling settled on my arm; my slide had just melted and my arm was now drenched.

"Yeah?"

"What did I tell you about the _shabti_? And just penguins in general?"

"I should try not to have them crack their heads on the floor on the very first day," I mumbled.

"And?"

"And I shouldn't steal other people's water to make uber-fun ice slides on my arm for hyperactive clay animals that have the potential to explode and end the world, I know. I was just trying to have fun!"

"No more _shabti_ in school, Felix," Alyssa said sternly.

"No more _shabti_ in school," I mimicked to myself when Alyssa couldn't hear me anymore. "Who does she think she is… doesn't understand the importance of penguins… king Toby… rule the world," I let my thoughts wonder, completely unaware of a girl about my age watching me. She had short brown hair, green eye makeup (though not too much) and brown eyes. And a splash of freckles across her nose that looked a little like a penguin's beak with a bit of imagination.

"S-sorry…" I trailed off. Oh great. School hadn't even started yet and people thought I was a penguin obsessed freak. Oh wait. I am.

"It's okay. I'm Janina. You?"

"Felix," I responded.

"Why is your arm wet?" she questioned.

"I spilled water on it," I said lamely. It would have been way cooler to say I had built a roller coaster out of ice on it. Absentmindedly, my eyes swept the ground for Toby's _shabti_, but I couldn't find it. Alyssa had probably already picked it up and packed him deep in her bag.

"Oh. So what homeroom are you in?"

Uh… oops.

"I don't know?"

Janina rolled her eyes, took my arm and dragged me towards a table in the middle of the group. I had lost sight of Alyssa, which was kind of unnerving, but my penguin charm was still securely around my neck. Oh, I didn't tell you about that? Walt made it for me for my twelfth birthday last year. Although he made me promise not to tell Sadie about it because it gave me the power to do some extra penguin-power things. Think of it as jailbreaking an ipod or so, but Walt jailbroke my magic.

"Your name?" It was a bored looking woman who looked to be about fifty.

"Uh, Felix Jacobsen."

She stared at her list for a while.

"Homeroom one-oh-seven, go stand over there," she vaguely waved her hand towards the clump of people I had just been standing with.

"And where do I get my schedule?" I asked.

"Do I look like I'm in charge of that?" she scowled at me. Wow, that was more unhelpful than that time when Sharkbait (one of my penguins) ate Khufu's cheerios and then dove off a cliff which ended in rabbits everywhere (don't ask).

"Sorry," I muttered, and then followed Janina back. Well, I tried to follow. We were stopped by a group of girls that were haggling louder than a horde of emperor penguins. Let me tell you, that's loud, especially during mating season.

"Hi, Jani," one of them (the leader, I think) greeted us. She seemed cool! "Who's this?" She smiled at me. She was prettier than Janina, with long straight red hair and tanned skin and green eyes. Yeah, she was definitely pretty. However, the moment I looked at Janina's face, I regretted feeling that the other girl was pretty. Janina was glaring at the girls, and I had a feeling that there was something wrong between them.

"I'm Felix," I introduced myself, and the redhead smiled at me.

"Cool, I'm Jamie. What homeroom are you in?"

"Uh… one-oh-seven," I remembered, surprised to feel heat on my ears.

"Oh my god, that is so awesome, we're in the same homeroom. Have you gotten your schedule yet?"

"Oh, uh… no," I stated, looking down. Somehow, I felt embarrassed. Jamie laughed however, and… well… my heart kind of exploded.

"Okay, so why don't you come with us? We'll get you your schedule and some… _nicer_ friends," she added with a scowl in Janina's direction. The latter glared back harder.

"Well, I, uh"

"Awesome."

Jamie took my arm the same way Janina just had and dragged me away, leaving Janina alone by herself. What did Jamie mean with _nicer_ people? Janina seemed nice.

"What's wrong with Janina," I asked. Jamie stopped and turned to me, waving her friends to go on.

"Felix, she got kicked out of school halfway through last year because she brought a knife with her."

Oh. Wow.

"Oh," I responded, and Jamie nodded.

"She says she's changed, but…" her eyes flitted around. People were talking; no one would hear us. "Can I trust you?"

Weird question.

"Of course," I replied. I may be ADHD, but I can keep a secret. Why do you think only half my mini fridge has Mountain Dew in it? Okay, if you didn't get that, it's because I'm hatching chicks there secretly. Don't tell Sadie or I will get King Flavio and his army to attack you, and King Flavio never fools around. Flavs is an emperor penguin.

"Last year, Janina and I were best friends. I knew she had a cutting problem, and I helped her get through it, but when I wanted to talk to her about my problems, she just said 'yeah, whatever' and walked away. I tried talking to her constantly, but then she kept ignoring me, acting as if I wasn't there. Then, one day, she brought a knife to school and threatened a teacher. No one knows how she got back. But stay away from her, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." That convinced me. Of course, Janina couldn't be as terrifying as Apophis, but, you know, teenaged girls are right up there with the albino snake when it comes to scariness levels.

"You know what, I like you. You should hang out with us at lunch," Jamie smiled, and my heart skipped a beat. But then I thought of Alyssa, Julian and Sean.

"Is it okay, of by then they haven't found other people, if a few of my friends also hang out with us?" Jamie frowned briefly but then nodded.

"Sure."

"Cool! So, about my schedule…"

*PAGE BREAK**PAGE BREAK*NANANANA*PAGE BREAK*

I ended up with a really cool schedule. Mondays I started out with double art, then a free period (in free periods we could do whatever we wanted and as of eighth grade with a parent's permission slip we were allowed to go off campus), then English and French. After French I had sixth period off (which seemed to be standard, unless you did any extracurricular things). After sixth I had drama, then math, and then I got to go home.

Sixth period was like a lunch period, but there was another twenty minute break between sixth and seventh so that the people who had something sixth could eat lunch then. Jamie said she was in my French class, so I could just tag along after that.

We were waiting in front of the homeroom about ten minutes before the bell, when someone punched my shoulder. Hard. I mean, harder than a penguin's slap, and that's pretty hard to do.

"Alyssa!" I threw my arms around her. Even though it had only been twenty minutes, I felt like I hadn't seen her for twenty years. Hey, when you're used to spending twelve plus hours a day with someone, you get a little attached.

"Hey, Penguino." Penguino was what Cleo and Alyssa always called me. "Where've you been?"

"Oh, someone just showed me my homeroom and then Jamie offered to help me get my schedule." Remembering the redhead, I turned around and tapped Jamie on the shoulder. She turned, her eyebrows raised.

"Yeah?"

"Jamie, this is Alyssa, by best friend," I introduced Alyssa. Jamie smiled and gave Alyssa a little wave.

"Hey, I'm Jamie. What homeroom are you in?"

"One-oh-eight," Alyssa grimaced. More to me, she said "and Julian and Sean are in one-ten." Her shoulders slumped a little. I think she also likes Julian.

"That's sad, if they're your friends," Jamie commented. "We're always got classes mixed with one other homeroom, so they'll be in none of our classes."

"Our?" Alyssa questioned. She gets a little suspicious, but that's okay.

"Yeah, seven and eight always work together."

A small part of my mind wondered if Sadie and Cleo would be in the same grouping. I hoped for them. Apart from her looks, Sadie really wasn't a people-person.

"You and your friends should hang out with us at lunch," Jamie told Alyssa. Alyssa sent a little glare my way (I don't know what for), but she nodded, before going back to her homeroom.

"Did I say something wrong?" Janina asked, and I shrugged.

"I don't think so. Sorry, Aly sometimes gets a little moody, but she's actually really cool."

Jamie was about to say something, when the door to our homeroom opened and a tux stepped out.

"All right, homeroom one-oh-seven, in with you, you little pests."

Everyone started clobbering towards the entrance, and I was pushed extremely close to Jamie, which made me blush.

"C'mon, ya little ice cubes, in you go," I heard the teacher growl. Wait, did he say ice cubes?

**What did you think? Review, por favor!**


	2. Two Sides of a Story

Mr. Ruskin was our homeroom teacher (first ten minutes before regular classes every day was homeroom) and apparently, he called everyone his 'little ice cubes,' which I found a little unnerving because ice cubes were awesome and full of awesomeness. Mr. Ruskin was not. I mean, he was wearing a tux!

So he started calling out names and pointing at tables. I tried to remember names and faces, though I failed. I could only remember Evan and Mitchell, who were friends of Jamie's, as well as Sammy (Samantha), Marley and Abi. I was lucky that I was the only person whose last name started with J in the class, and Jamie was right up next, with 'Kendall' being her last name.

It wasn't until I sat down that I noticed who else was sitting next to me. Janina Isaacs. Jamie had turned away to talk to Sammy, so I directed my gaze at Janina. On second glances, she was just as pretty, if not prettier, than Jamie. Her short spiky hair gave her a certain spunk that I liked, and she really did have a cute nose. Now, on closer look, I could see that she had three small green studs in her left ear (the one facing me; I don't know about the other) and a small silver ring through her eyebrow.

"Hey," I tried, but she ignored me. I guess that I hadn't left Jamie to come find her must have sat deep. "Jani?"

Her eyes zipped briefly to me, and I got the hint.

"Okay then, Janina. I'm sorry I didn't come back, I just…" I noticed I was at a loss for words. Oh, if only I had Toby's _shabti_ with me; he would have told me just the right thing to say. Brushing a strand of blond hair out of my eyes, I was about to say something, but Janina beat me to the punch.

"Heard Jamie's story and figured I was a freak. Yeah, I get that a lot."

"Well, do you blame me?" I asked. Uh-oh. This was my emperor penguin side showing; not good. "I mean, what she said you did sounded pretty horrible. If you had been me and I had been you, you wouldn't have come back looking for me."

"I know. But you don't know my story."

"Your-"

"You didn't _really_ think that Jamie was the only one right in the situation. Come on, have you, like, been living under a rock?"

"Well, this is my first time at a school since four years," I muttered, and Janina's eyes widened.

"Where have you been? I mean, what did you do?"

Ah, yes, Sadie warned me about this.

"I was homeschooled," I lied smoothly. Yeah, homeschooled in awesome penguin magic, I added in my mind. But I wasn't going to tell Janina that.

"Wow. So you have no dynamic of how the… the system works?"

"System? Like hierarchy?" Penguins had hierarchies. And when someone rebelled, oh dear, things got ugly. Uh… I know this because whenever King Flavio has a problem, he calls on me.

"Yes, exactly like a hierarchy. You're lucky you look the way you do; it's gotten you a free pass straight to the top with Jamie."

Was that a compliment?

"Me, on the other hand, I was booted out halfway through last year, when I accidentally dropped my knife from breakfast in my bag and then forgot to take it out. Sander and I were just joking around with it when Jamie walked in. At first, she joined in; it was something against the rules, it would gain her some 'bad girl' credit. That was the only reason she was friends with me to begin with, it was so she would appear edgier. However, Mr. Goot walked in and demanded to know what we were doing. I just happened to be holding the knife at that point. And, well, Jamie has a creative mind and is a talented speaker…"

I could imagine the rest for myself.

"Who's Sander?" I asked.

"Sander Matteus… where to begin? He was my best friend and our school's only 'bad boy', even in seventh grade. He was really one of a kind…"

"Was?" I asked, having a bad feeling about the answer.

"You remember the summer when all those storms hit the city?"

I nodded.

"He was acting all weird beforehand. He'd call me at two or three in the morning, crying. I'd have to run to the nearest subway station and pick him up; he'd spend the night crawled up, shivering. Two weeks before break, it was the worst. He told me he was leaving for camp early; he kissed me. Whatever happened, he didn't come back."

Okay, maybe that was a little too dark and a little too much information that should be shared between two people within the first half hour of them knowing each other, but oddly enough, I didn't mind. I liked that Janina obviously had a darker side, that she was edgier than Jamie or any of the other girls at the Brooklyn Mansion.

"I'm sorry to dump this all on you," Janina murmured. I could tell she was about to say something else, but the bell rang, and everyone started scrambling to get up. So, knowing I probably wouldn't see her again until tomorrow, I gave Janina a quick but tight hug, which left her blushing. I wonder why. No, seriously, I do. Do I smell bad or so?

I walked to art with Evan and Mitchell (Jamie's guy friends, the popular guys). They were pretty cool, I guess, but they showed no interest in penguins. However, they _did_ convince me to join art club and ice hockey. Even though BAG was an arts academy, they still apparently had sports.

The art room was… heavenly. I was very open, with one wall being windows entirely. On the other wall there were sinks and racks upon racks of canvases and paint. It had that messy 'art room' feel to it that I absolutely loved. I could picture myself in here, painting arctic landscapes and Toby and Sharkbait and King Flavio in all their glory….

"Felix!" My art class just got a whole lot better because, already sitting at a more secluded table in the back corner right next to a window and all the drawing supplies (paper, pencils, charcoal and whatnot) was Alyssa. I smiled broadly and made my way over to her, grabbing the only other free chair at the small rectangular table and sat down.

"Hey, how's your homeroom?" I asked. Alyssa shrugged.

"They're mostly boring, though there is this on pretty cute guy who sits behind me. Raphael, I think. Oh, there he is," she inconspicuously pointed towards the door. I turned to see a guy who seemed to be a little taller than me, with tan skin and dark brown messy hair enter. He flashed a white smile around the class and then sat down at Jamie's table, which was by far the loudest. I don't know why, but I had lost all desire to sit by her.

In that moment, she seemed to think of me too, because she turned and scanned to room, and when her eyes landed on me, she beckoned me over to a free seat next to her. I tried to, as politely as possible, shake my head and then jerk it towards Alyssa, trying to get the point across that I wanted to sit with my friend. Jamie got this weird grin, as if she were eyeing her prey, and shrugged, then slung her arm around Raphael's shoulder and leaned her head on him.

Weird. I turned back to Alyssa with an eyebrow raised.

"Clearly a douchebag," I commented, and Alyssa shrugged.

"Eye candy," she countered. It was normal, for us, to talk about guys/girls we liked with each other. Alyssa was like my best friend and my sister and my brother combined in one. She was pretty amazing.

"Whatever. Bet you wish it was Julian in our class though," I teased. She blushed.

"Well I bet you wish you were in Raphael's place right now," she shot right back. Oh please, lame. I got over Jamie, like… ten minutes ago!

Alyssa seemed to notice my condescending look and decided to drop it.

"Hello, class. I am Mr. Huxley. I'll be handing out a syllabus that I expect signed and brought back to me on Wednesday by your parent or legal guardian. But enough about that. I trust you guys will get to know each other as time passes, so I see no need for introduction games. Your first assignment is to draw something that's alive. Add a background, really animate the picture. You have four weeks to complete this. If you feel you need extra time, I am in this room from eight to four on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from nine to three on the other days. Have fun."

I had a good feeling about art.

By the end of the double period, I had penciled the arctic landscape and made three blobs in the foreground that sort-of-but-not-really resembled Toby, Sharkbait and King Flavio. Five minutes before class ended, Mr. Huxley told us to clean up, and everyone started scrambling around, putting papers in the drawer marked 107-108 and putting all pencils and so back in the right places.

"Hey, Felix," I turned to see Jamie smiling at me. "Your drawing is really good." She tilted her head a little towards me so that she was looking at me through her eyelids. Was she… _flirting_? _Avec moi_? She continued walking towards me, and only stopped when she was really close next to my shoulder, looking at the paper in my hand. All I could think was 'oh mother of Egypt, what is happening?'

"Uh, thanks," I stumbled through my thoughts, and made my way through the oncoming crowd to the drawer. Unfortunately, Jamie's presence didn't leave me, and I felt a sudden urge that I just couldn't resist. Concentrating on the floor immediately behind me, I quietly murmured '_se-kebeb_!' That means 'make cold.'

A small cry escaped Jamie's lips as she slid and slipped, falling on her butt. I turned in mock-surprise but made no effort to help her up. As quickly as I could, I made the water heat up and evaporate (something I absolutely _hate_ doing, mainly because it takes so much warm water energy). A few people laughed, and Sammy and Abi immediately rushed to Jamie's side to help her up.

An especially loud laugh came from Raphael, and Jamie gave in and chuckled a bit too, brushing the incident off. I immediately knew I was above suspicion. Well, that was until Alyssa wacked me over the head with a repaired (and, apparently, rock-enforced) Toby _shabti_.

"And to think I was just about to give this back to you," she shook her head at me, tsking slightly. "You're going to have to do better than that Felix. And… I'm not saying I don't think Jamie totally deserved that, but as your _older_ best friend slash sister, please don't use magic at school. Save it for the free periods."

"Older by two months," I corrected, but, as usual, Alyssa ignored me.

"Later, Penguino," she called as she headed off to ceramics, while I had a free period. What to do… oh snap. By all the Egyptian gods, I had an idea. I'll only say it involved the roof, a tunnel, kebabs, ice, and a whole lot of penguins, as in, a chaos sea amount of penguins.

Eagerly and not caring about my surroundings, I headed off to the library so I could print out a map of the surrounding Brooklyn.

**O.o what will Felix do? Review in that newly designed review box and you'll (hopefully) find out next Saturday! :D REVIEW por favor x)**


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